Championship Matchups (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) (baseball, playoffs, professional, won)

[Flavius Lugo]

Whenever the playoffs start in one of the big four professional sports, I begin pondering the potential championship matchups. Let's take baseball, and the road to the 2022 World Series as an example.

*Six teams from each league are in the playoffs. That means there are 36 possible World Series matchups. Of those, 14 have already happened at least once, while 22 would be new meetings.

*The New York Yankees have played each of the six National League playoff teams in the World Series at least once.

*The only team in this year's postseason that doesn't face a potential World Series rematch is the Seattle Mariners, the only MLB team that has never made it to the fall classic. Not since 1960, the last year before the expansion era, has MLB consisted entirely of teams that have been to at least one Series.

*The Yankees are 7-4 against the Dodgers in the World Series (6-1 against Brooklyn, 2-2 against Los Angeles). This is the most frequent World Series matchups between teams.

*The St. Louis Cardinals are 3-2 against the Yankees in the World Series. They're the only one of the original eight National League teams that has a winning record versus the Bombers in the Series.

*The aughts (the 2010s) was the first decade since the previous aughts (the 1910s) that did not see the Yankees win at least one pennant.

*The Cleveland Guardians are riding MLB's longest championship drought, at 72 seasons running (excluding 1994, when no Series was played). But this is only the fifth-longest World Series drought - the Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, and Phillies all rode longer dry spells.

*If the Yankees and the Mets meet in the Series, it will be the 15th all-New York matchup. There have also been single stances of all-Chicago, all-St. Louis, and all-Bay Area World Series.

*If the World Series features the San Diego Padres versus either the Tampa Bay Rays or the Seattle Mariners, it will be the first Series between two teams that have never won a title since 1980 (Phillies against Royals). Before that, it hadn't happened since 1920.

*If the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros meet in a rematch of last year's World Series, it will be the first time that has happened since 1978, when the Yankees and Dodgers met for the second year in a row. The last six rematches of the previous Series have all involved the Yankees.

*If the Braves repeat, they will be only the second National League team to win back-to-back titles in the last century (the Cincinnati Reds won two in a row in 1975 and 1976; the New York Giants did the same in 1921 and 1922).

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by Flavius Lugo

Whenever the playoffs start in one of the big four professional sports, I begin pondering the potential championship matchups. Let's take baseball, and the road to the 2022 World Series as an example.

*Six teams from each league are in the playoffs. That means there are 36 possible World Series matchups. Of those, 14 have already happened at least once, while 22 would be new meetings.

*The New York Yankees have played each of the six National League playoff teams in the World Series at least once.

*The only team in this year's postseason that doesn't face a potential World Series rematch is the Seattle Mariners, the only MLB team that has never made it to the fall classic. Not since 1960, the last year before the expansion era, has MLB consisted entirely of teams that have been to at least one Series.

*The Yankees are 7-4 against the Dodgers in the World Series (6-1 against Brooklyn, 2-2 against Los Angeles). This is the most frequent World Series matchups between teams.

*The St. Louis Cardinals are 3-2 against the Yankees in the World Series. They're the only one of the original eight National League teams that has a winning record versus the Bombers in the Series.

*The aughts (the 2010s) was the first decade since the previous aughts (the 1910s) that did not see the Yankees win at least one pennant.

*The Cleveland Guardians are riding MLB's longest championship drought, at 72 seasons running (excluding 1994, when no Series was played). But this is only the fifth-longest World Series drought - the Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, and Phillies all rode longer dry spells.

*If the Yankees and the Mets meet in the Series, it will be the 15th all-New York matchup. There have also been single stances of all-Chicago, all-St. Louis, and all-Bay Area World Series.

*If the World Series features the San Diego Padres versus either the Tampa Bay Rays or the Seattle Mariners, it will be the first Series between two teams that have never won a title since 1980 (Phillies against Royals). Before that, it hadn't happened since 1920.

*If the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros meet in a rematch of last year's World Series, it will be the first time that has happened since 1978, when the Yankees and Dodgers met for the second year in a row. The last six rematches of the previous Series have all involved the Yankees.

*If the Braves repeat, they will be only the second National League team to win back-to-back titles in the last century (the Cincinnati Reds won two in a row in 1975 and 1976; the New York Giants did the same in 1921 and 1922).

Thanks for the post. The bolded is shocking.